Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
2017 middle film of the third Star Wars trilogy. Hype Teaser trailer and Celebration Teaser trailer came out in April. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. It showed nothing of interest, besides the books and Luke saying the Jedi should end. But the title already kinda implied that and the books aren't that interesting - we assumed Luke would teach Rey stuff. Then I watched all the panels from Celebration where the teaser was shown and got no more hype from that. During the hour-long panel nothing else was revealed except that there's a new character called Rose played by some weird small over-excited actress, and none of the actors on the panel had anything actually interesting to say. It was all just empty, riding the hype without earning any more. And someone on reddit posted a video titled 'Mark Hamill shits on Episode VIII' or something, using excerpts of his interviews to propose that he's not actually really a fan of the movie, and that got me bummed out too. So by the end of April 2017 I was kinda worried that it would turn out to be not as exciting and amazing as The Force Awakens, and maybe actually pretty bad. But as more trailers were released, speculation and excitement intensified, and the release approached, I was feeling pretty excited about it all. Matthew and I had discussed the possible directions it could take at length, and I was looking forward to seeing what Rian's interesting new plan was. First watch (14th December 2017) Format At Toho Umeda cinema in Osaka, in English with Japanese subtitles, at a special early screening event in the evening the day before official release, with a British student and big Star Wars fan from school. Journal I naturally wanted to watch it as early as possible, but since it was coming out on a Friday in Japan and I was working that day I thought I not get to see it until the evening or even not until the weekend. Luckily I got offered a ticket at a special early screening event which was taking place across Japan, if you were quick enough to get tickets before they sold out (and I had no idea it was even happening!). I went along on Thursday after school to the main cinema in Umeda; there were lots of people dressed in elaborate costumes and a few cameras, and of course the whole screen was full. We abandoned the queue for popcorn as 18:30 approached even though I was confident we'd have the usual 15 minutes of trailers etc on our side - however just as we took our seats the lights went down and the movie started with only a brief message from Rian Johnson and the cast hyping us up. It was quite a different experience to the first time I watched The Force Awakens! I felt less excited by the time it started to be honest because I was so distracted. During the movie I was obviously shocked by the irreverence and discarding of expectations. In particular I was not convinced about Luke's characterisation. Throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder seemed too slapstick to the point of almost breaking the fourth wall. The whole movie seemed like it was too jokey, and the drama didn't grip me, with the notable exception of Rey and Kylo Ren's storyline which I loved. I came out of the movie puzzled and unsure. Then I spent the next two days reading the reactions online and finding that a great deal of fans were criticising the movie and for reasons that resonated with my sentiments. The casting aside of the Star Wars tropes and cliches that make up its emotional heart, the pointless side plots and new characters, Finn's boring role in the film and lack of interaction with Rey, Snoke ultimately having no explanation, the straight up return to Empire vs Rebels and good guy trying to redeem bad guy despite the guns-blazing attempts to be 'different'. I wasn't bothered like some about Leia using the force how she did, but perhaps I'll sour on that. I hated Luke emerging from the blaster fire and brushing off his shoulder. People have been comparing this movie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and I can see why. It didn't feel like Star Wars, and if they're going to change what Star Wars is I don't want it to be like the Marvel movies. It seemed like there was a few Deus Ex Machina things in the movie, with people using force powers in ways they've never done before to solve problems suddenly. The Snoke-Rey confrontation was weird and boring, in contrast to the Emperor-Luke meeting. Why did they bother with a CGI Snoke? I guess some of the problems like that stem from Abrams setting up threads in TFA and Rian deciding to abandon them all. What's Abrams gonna do with the last movie now?? Seems kind of a mess. Rating 0 First watch (19th December 2017) Format At Cine Burg or whatever it's called, in Osaka, by myself. Journal After thinking it over and absorbing the extremely split reactions to it, and in particular listening to Shane from work defending it a lot, I rewatched it shortly after school finished for the winter, before I returned to the UK for Christmas. I liked it a lot more this time. I think the first viewing of these movies is just about getting rid of preconceptions and hype, and the second viewing is where you can actually enjoy them! Most of my criticisms I could understand better in light of the type of story it's actually trying to be. Rating 1 Third watch (23rd December 2017) Format At Sheffield Cineworld IMAX (3D), with Matthew, Luke, Ben, Sandra and Mum. Journal Watched a third time that month, after returning to the UK, with my family. Got a bit sleepy during some bits, but enjoyed the same bits again. Interesting hearing all the discussion about it, and whether it's a good movie or not! Rating 1 Fourth watch (6th December 2018) Format At home in 4K Journal After a year of listening to conflicting opinions of the film, online and from my friends and family, I had still not made up my mind. I felt like it was a movie with some great elements and some terrible ones. I watched it again on the evening of December 6th 2018 (while waiting for midnight and the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) and found it was very watchable and nothing seriously wound me up except Holdo allowing Poe to full on mutiny and still not saying anything, and the stupid spaceship-oh-wait-it's-an-iron gag. Apart from that, the Rose/Finn arc didn't appeal to me. I just don't like Rose. And I think the "spark" business (as well as the "hope" stuff of Rogue One) is a bit heavy-handed. Show don't tell, people! But definitely the Rey/Ben arc is interesting. Rating 1 Fifth watch (July/August 2019) Format At home Journal Rewatched the original trilogy, then The Force Awakens, then this, in 2019. I enjoyed it quite a lot. This time I was taking in the Reylo themes and stuff about Rey's heroine's journey - the stuff Matthew talks about a lot. Improvements I think are sorely needed: Firstly, while I get Holdo not explaining the plan to Poe, when he literally mutinies she should have tried at last to explain to him. Just a sort of "wait, you don't understand..." then he would tell her to shut up because she's surely just lying. Even we, the audience, would at that point be willing to agree with Poe. Secondly, Rey needs to exhibit some weaknesses based on her life on Jakku. She should have been affected by the cold on Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens, and should have been unable to swim when she falls in the dark hole in this one. Just little moments that would have made her character more consistent, believable, whole and relatable. She spent her entire life on the desert planet of Jakku. Come on. Those are the main two that occurred to me this time. I still don't like Rose but I'm not sure if that's just me rejecting a hero character that I have nothing in common with. Iffy acting and dialogue isn't unique to her character, but there's nothing about her I need or want in a story. I like Luke's arc. It makes total sense to me that he would be this way, and in a story-telling sense it's necessary for established heroes to be set aside for the new young characters. In the original trilogy the amazing war hero, general, Jedi Knight, Obi Wan Kenobi from the prequels is old and tired and DIES in the first movie. Instead, the young whiny nobody Luke has to step up. Probably the mistake they made was not having Luke appear, be awesome, and die, in the first movie of this trilogy. I'm super excited about The Rise of Skywalker (although rationally prepared to find it very hit and miss). Rating 1. Maybe edging on a 2. Category:Star Wars films Category:2010s films Category:Science fiction films Category:Films watched in 2017 Category:Films with 0 rating Category:Films with 1 rating Category:Films watched in 2018 Category:Films watched in 2019